Verb Conjugations

A verb conjugation is a category we use to group together similar verbs: think of it like a family of verbs. In earlier lessons, we have focused exclusively on 1st and 2nd conjugation verbs, which always had a stem vowel of -a (1st conjugation) and -e (2nd conjugation).

The remaining conjugations are called Third (3rd) and Fourth (4th) Conjugation. 3rd conjugation is additionally split into a regular 3rd conjugation and a special subset called 3rd-io conjugation. Let's briefly review a few verb basics before exploring these new conjugations in depth.

Verb Basics - Principal Parts

The four basic components of a Latin verb are called principal parts, the essential forms of a Latin verb. These are the three to four forms listed in a Latin dictionary for verb entries. The principal parts will form the basic building blocks for all the various verb forms. They will help you to identify the conjugation, which is the verb's family.

In terms of verb characteristics (these are the basis for all verb endings), verbs have person, number, tense, voice and mood.

What does each Principal Part mean?

1st PP: 1st Person Singular, Present Active Indicative
2nd PP: Present Active Infinitive
3rd PP: 1st Person Singular, Perfect Active Indicative
4th PP: Perfect Passive Participle*

Nota bene:

*We will not be using the 4th principal part in Latin I, but please still work on memorizing this form. It will play a major role in learning more advanced verb forms.

Principal Part Comparison

Look at the following chart to compare the appearance of the principal parts of the four conjugations:

**Conjugations - Principal Part Examples**
Conjugation	1st Principal Part	2nd Principal Part	3rd Principal Part	4th Principal Part
1st Conjugation	amo	amare	amavi	amatus
2nd Conjugation	doceo	docere	docui	doctus
3rd Conjugation	mitto	mittere	misi	missus
3rd-io Conjugation	facio	facere	feci	factus
4th Conjugation	audio	audire	audivi	auditus

The highlighted forms in the table will help you with our next review task: identifying the conjugation of a verb.

One last note before we move on, though: both 1st and 4th conjugation have a consistent pattern to their principal parts. With a few exceptions, you will always see the following forms for 1st and 4th conjugation:

1st conjugation: -o, -are, -avi, -atus
4th conjugation: -io, -ire, -ivi, -itus

2nd and 3rd conjugation have a great deal more variety in their forms, though the 1st and 2nd PP will be consistent, establishing the conjugation number. Let's review identification.

How to Identify the Conjugation of a Verb

To identify the conjugation of a verb, consider the patterns in the image. Be sure to examine the endings for both the first and second principal parts.

amo, amare, amavi, amatus
- 1st Conjugation:
- -o, -are
doceo, docere, docui, doctus
- 2nd Conjugation:
- -eo, -ere
mitto, mittere, misi, missus
- 3rd Conjugation (regular)
- -o, -ere
facio, facere, feci, factus
- 3rd-io Conjugation
- -io, ere
audio, audire, audivi, auditus
- 4th Conjugation
- -io, -ire

As you can see, three of these conjugations have -ere in the 2nd principal part. This is why it is critical to also look at the 1st principal part when analyzing a verb to determine its conjugation.

Practice Activity: Conjugation Identification

For each of the following verbs, select the correct conjugation number.

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